Vancouver police investigate a shooting in the 1100 block of 61st Ave in Vancouver, May 2, 2012. One man is dead with the suspect is still at large.Nick Procaylo
/ PNG

Ranjit Cheema arrives at Burnaby Law Courts in June 2000 on an assault charge.Glenn Baglo
/ Vancouver Sun Files

People are interviewed by police as Vancouver police investigate a shooting in the 1100 block of 61st Ave in Vancouver, BC., May 2, 2012. One man is dead with the suspects still at large.Nick Procaylo
/ PNG

Vancouver police investigate a shooting in the 1100 block of 61st Ave in Vancouver, BC., May 2, 2012. One man is dead with the suspects still at large.Nick Procaylo
/ PNG

Vancouver police investigate a shooting in the 1100 block of 61st Ave in Vancouver, BC., May 2, 2012. One man is dead with the suspects still at large.Nick Procaylo
/ PNG

Vancouver police investigate a shooting in the 1100 block of 61st Ave in Vancouver, BC., May 2, 2012. One man is dead with the suspects still at large.Nick Procaylo
/ PNG

People arrive as Vancouver police investigate a shooting in the 1100 block of 61st Ave in Vancouver, BC., May 2, 2012. One man is dead with the suspects still at large.Nick Procaylo
/ PNG

Vancouver police investigate a shooting in the 1100 block of 61st Ave in Vancouver, BC., May 2, 2012. One man is dead with the suspects still at large.Nick Procaylo
/ PNG

Vancouver police investigate a shooting in the 1100 block of 61st Ave in Vancouver, BC., May 2, 2012. One man is dead with the suspects still at large.Nick Procaylo
/ PNG

Vancouver police investigate a shooting in the 1100 block of 61st Ave in Vancouver, May 2, 2012. One man is dead with the suspect is still at large.Nick Procaylo
/ PNG

Vancouver police investigate a shooting in the 1100 block of 61st Ave in Vancouver, May 2, 2012. One man is dead with the suspect is still at large.Nick Procaylo
/ PNG

Onlookers watch as Vancouver police investigate a shooting in the 1100 block of 61st Ave in Vancouver, May 2, 2012.Nick Procaylo
/ PNG

Ranjit Cheema arrives at Burnaby Law Courts with an unidentified woman in June 2000 on an assault charge.Glenn Baglo
/ Vancouver Sun Files

Ranjit Cheema arrives at Burnaby Law Courts with an unidentified woman in June 2000 on an assault charge.Glenn Baglo
/ Vancouver Sun Files

VANCOUVER - Since returning from a California prison three months ago, longtime Vancouver gangster Ranjit Singh Cheema had been trying to muscle his way back into the lucrative B.C. drug trade before he was gunned down Wednesday.

In the process, Cheema disrespected some of his former underlings who have moved up in the business since the 43-year-old went to jail.

Some close to Cheema, as well as police sources, believe recent disputes with old associates could have led to the gangland execution of the former south slope crime boss in front of his parents’ house on East 61st Avenue.

“He was trying to step into his old role,” one friend said. “He didn’t realize that things have changed.”

Longtime Vancouver gang cop Doug Spencer, now with the B.C. Transit Police, said Cheema “has been talking real loud since he got back.”

“Maybe he was trying to re-establish his drug lines,” Spencer said.

Cheema, who in 2008 pleaded guilty to a role in an international heroin and cocaine smuggling ring, had a two-decade career in organized crime in Vancouver before going to prison down south.

He knew — or had done business with — most of the major players in the local drug trade, including Thomas Gisby, who was gunned down in Mexico on Saturday, and Billy Woo, murdered and dumped near Squamish last fall.

While police have warned of escalating gang tensions after the Kelowna slaying of Red Scorpion Jonathan Bacon last August, Cheema’s murder is not believed to be one of the many suspected retaliatory shootings.

Before he went to jail, Cheema was aligned with what remained of the Buttar group. Former Buttar gang associates are on both sides in the new gang landscape — where Bacon’s associates, some Hells Angels and some Independent Soldiers have been clashing with rivals in what police call the Dhak-Duhre group.

Cheema was also believed to have outstanding debts from before he went to prison that may have played a role in his demise. And he had an ego that was not helping his reintegration.

Vancouver police are saying little about the deadly shooting just after 9 a.m. Wednesday — half a block from Walter Moberly Elementary.

They were not even confirming Cheema’s identity, despite neighbours, friends and police sources telling reporters that it was in fact Cheema who was shot several times as he sat in the driver’s side of a vehicle in front of the family’s home at 1175 East 61st.

“Vancouver police are awaiting autopsy results tomorrow morning before confirming the identity of a man gunned down,” said Vancouver police Const. Jana McGuinness. “Once the identity of the deceased is confirmed, investigators will be able to determine more about the background of the victim and the motive behind this targeted shooting.”

She said investigators from the VPD homicide squad are appealing for witnesses to contact them “if they saw a suspicious vehicle in the block prior to the drive-by shooting or at any time in the past couple of days.”

Anyone with information is asked to call 604-717-2500, McGuinness said.

Cheema’s distraught nephew arrived at the murder scene shortly afterwards, but police would not let him go to the body lying under a white tarp in the street.

“I need to go to my grandparents. They are in the house. They don’t speak English,” he told officers, before walking down the alley and entering through the garage, which is equipped with two surveillance cameras.

Few know the south-slope gang scene better than Vancouver South MLA Kash Heed, who spent 31 years with the VPD — much of it in Cheema’s neighbourhood.

He spoke to Cheema many times while working on the south slope. Heed described the younger Cheema as an aggressive, steroid-using street thug. But he evolved, Heed said, into a more sophisticated organized criminal.

Heed said police need a new approach to tackling continuing gang violence.

“There is not one gang war right now. There are several gang wars,” he said.

He wants police to release more of their intelligence so the public can better protect itself.

“They have to start to share more information with the public,” Heed said. “They need to get out there and they need to expose these individuals.”

If police can post photos of suspected Stanley Cup rioters facing mischief charges online, they should be able to similarly disclose information about violent gangsters.

“We can plaster their pictures all over these websites, all over bus stop shelters for Stanley Cup rioters. But we can’t do it for these gang members?” Heed said. “So when we say the public should be concerned because of some sort of retaliatory action, we need to let the public know who these people are.”

A Radio-Canada reporter has been arrested for alleged criminal harassment while pursuing the subject of a story. According to Radio-Canada, reporter Antoine Trépanier was arrested Tuesday night by Gatineau police. He was released on a promise to appear in court. Trépanier was called by Gatineau police Tuesday evening and an officer requested that he come […]

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By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.